Prashant Reddy

T. Prashant Reddy graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a B.A.LLB (Hons.) degree in 2008. He later graduated with a LLM degree (Law, Science & Technology) from the Stanford Law School in 2013. Prashant has worked with law firms in Delhi and in academia in India and Singapore. He is also co-author of the book Create, Copy, Disrupt: India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas (OUP).

Patent Plant Variety Protection

NOC requirement for registering or releasing new plant varieties scrapped

by Prashant Reddy July 9, 2017

3 Comments

As per a recent report in the Financial Express by Vivian Fernandes, the PPVFR Authority, constituted under the Protection of Plant Variety & Farmer’s Rights Act, 2001 has finally done away with a long-standing requirement of producing a ‘No-Objection-Certificate’ (NOC) from the patentee of a particular GM trait that is used by a breeder while developing a new plant variety and which variety he seeks to register under the PVPFRA. Since the interplay of these rights is slightly confusing, let…

Madras Bar Association Challenges the Constitutionality of the Finance Act, 2017 and the New Tribunal Rules

by Prashant Reddy June 18, 2017

1 Comment

As recently reported by Bar & Bench, the Madras Bar Association has filed a petition before the Madras High Court challenging the constitutionality of Sections 156 to 189 of the Finance Act, 2017 as also the Tribunal, Appellate and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017 that I had written about over here. A bench of the Madras High Court headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee has issued notice to the government asking it to…

Government of India Launches ‘Occupy the Tribunals’ Movement with New Rules on Appointments and Removals of Judges of the IPAB & 18 Other Tribunals

by Prashant Reddy June 13, 2017

The Whatsapp Privacy PIL: Did Facebook shoot Whatsapp in its foot?

by Prashant Reddy June 12, 2017

3 Comments

A few months ago, I had written about a judgment of the Delhi High Court dismissing a PIL filed against the change in Whatsapp privacy policy. As I had commented at this time, the PIL was absolutely frivolous and should have been dismissed. Yet, it is now being heard by a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court – a rare event these days. How did this PIL transform from being frivolous to ending up before a Constitutional Bench of 5…

Patent

143 patent infringement lawsuits between 2005 and 2015: Only 5 judgments

by Prashant Reddy June 5, 2017

4 Comments

Sometime ago, Aparajita and I embarked on an empirical study on the issue of Indian patent litigation. Although the paper was never written, Aparajita did dig out some very interesting statistics on the filing and pendency of patent infringement lawsuits before 5 High Courts at Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Calcutta and Gujarat for the period of 2005 to 2015 i.e. the first decade of TRIPS. As most of you may know compiling litigation data in India is quite the nightmare because…

Patent Plant Variety Protection

Intervention by Addl. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in Monsanto-Nuziveedu appeal raises questions of propriety

by Prashant Reddy May 28, 2017

The (un)patentability of microbiological processes – A drafting error or considered policy?

by Prashant Reddy May 22, 2017

9 Comments

While researching for a paper that I am currently writing, I stumbled along a rather strange issue regarding the patentability of microbiological processes. The root of the issue traces back to Article 27.3 of TRIPS. This provision allows member-states to exclude from patentability certain subject matter such as plants, animals and essentially biological processes, with the caveat that member-states will still have to protect micro-organisms and microbiological processes under their national patent laws. The relevant wording of Article 27.3 reads…

Innovation Patent

DIPP forgets about NIIPM & Indian law firms, signs deal with WIPO

by Prashant Reddy May 17, 2017

4 Comments

Earlier this month, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) announced that it had signed a deal with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to establish Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISC) in India. According to the press release put out by the DIPP, the TISCs are meant to provide innovators in developing countries with high quality technology, information and related services to help them create, protect and manage their intellectual property. As per the same press release, once…

Designs

Carlsberg v. Som Distilleries: Beer meets design law in an interesting judgment

by Prashant Reddy May 8, 2017

3 Comments

In a judgment running into 119 pages, Justice Vipin Sanghi of the Delhi High Court has declined to grant Carlsberg an interim injunction in a composite lawsuit filed for design infringement and passing off against Som Distilleries, the manufacturers of ‘Hunter’ beer. The winning side was represented by Senior Advocate Pratibha Singh, briefed by Kapil Wadhwa. Apart from denying an interim injunction, Justice Sanghi has referred a question of law to the Chief Justice on the grounds that the judgment…

Others

Appointments and Independence of the IPAB after the Finance Act, 2017

by Prashant Reddy May 3, 2017